verb
Usage
What does foresee mean? To foresee is to know in advance, as in With all the rain we’ve been having, it was easy to foresee that the river would overflow its banks.Foresee is different from predict or forecast because to foresee is to know, while to predict or forecast is to guess or calculate rather than to know. Sometimes, though, foresee is used as a synonym for predict to exaggerate one’s confidence in a prediction.Example: I can foresee where this is going and I want no part of it.
Related Words
See predict.
Other Word Forms
- foreseeable adjective
- foreseer noun
- unforeseeing adjective
- unforeseen adjective
- well-foreseen adjective
Etymology
Origin of foresee
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English foresēon. See fore-, see 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He added that the players had done well without him and implied that he didn’t foresee any changes ahead of the finals.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 24, 2026
I foresee this trend will only gain steam as U.S. interest rate cuts, foreign investment, deregulation and GDP growth breathe new life into sectors that have been undervalued or even stymied in recent years.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 2, 2026
He argued that the founders didn’t foresee the desire of federal lawmakers to hold on to their positions.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026
For we did not foresee then a world in which trust in traditional sources of news and information would be corroded by a rising cynicism, turbo-charged by social media and, increasingly now, AI.
From BBC • Jan. 24, 2026
Nor did the farmers foresee that in good years their bulging granaries would tempt thieves and enemies, compelling them to start building walls and doing guard duty.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
